Transcriptomic analysis reveals novel age-independent immunomodulatory proteins as a mode of cerebroprotection in P2X4R KO mice after ischemic stroke

Identification of new potential drug target proteins and their plausible mechanisms for stroke treatment is critically needed. We previously showed that genetic deletion and short-term pharmacological inhibition of P2X4R, a purinergic receptor for adenosine triphosphate ATP, provides acute cerebroprotection. However, potential mechanisms remain unknown. Therefore, we employed RNA-seq technology to identify the gene expression profiles, pathway analysis, and qPCR validation of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). This analysis identified roles of DEGs in certain biological processes responsible for P2X4R-dependent cerebroprotection after stroke. We subjected both young and aged male and female global P2X4 KO and littermate WT mice to ischemic stroke. After 3 days, mice were sacrificed, total RNA was isolated using Trizol, and subjected to RNA-seq and Nanostring-mediated qPCR. DESeq2, Gene Ontology (GO), and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were used to identify mRNA transcript expression profiles and biological pathways. We found 2246 DEGs in P2X4R KO vs WT tissue after stroke. Out of these DEGs, 1920 gene were downregulated, and 325 genes were upregulated in KO. GO/IPA analysis of the top 300 DEGs suggests an enrichment of inflammation and extracellular matrix component genes. qPCR validation of the top 30 DEGs revealed downregulation of two common age-independent genes in P2X4R KO mice: Interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine, and Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte-Associated Protein 2 alpha (Ctla2a), an immunosuppressive factor. These data suggest that P2X4R-mediated cerebroprotection after stroke is initiated by attenuation of immune modulatory pathways in both young and aged mice of both sexes.